Harry Clifton

Quoted from ska face

He played every week for 5 years and nobody bothered with the love letters & hero worship then. This obsession with who can be the biggest lickąrse when old players come back is weird to me.

Yeah thats right, literally nobody ever cheered him on or sang a song specific to him at all while he played for us. Nope.

It’s been a long while since a former (non loan) player had a dose of what was once called “Grimsbyitis”.

Quoted from Watch and Shoot

It's an odd one this for me - we seem to remember them as one of our own - my lasting impression which probably sours me against this was Kev D's behaviour when he scored for Coventry (the Tony Rees stamp game) God I hero worshipped him as a schoolboy - bitter taste in my mouth after that - whether home or away with former players.

Jack Lester equalising for Chesterfield at BP and then pointing “down” as he celebrated in front of the lower crushed me a bit at the time, I have to say. In part because he was a hero of mine as a kid and in part because he was right - we were going down, and we did.

If Harry celebrates scoring a goal on Saturday I swear I’m taking all the posters down off my bedroom wall.

I think Saturday will be an interesting comparison as to how far we've come.

Of course everything feels better after back-to-back away wins but I fancy that we've done enough in our recruitment/development of players to suggest that we've moved on from Clifton a bit.  

I really liked the lad and thought he got a lot of undue stick last season, the biggest problem of his final season with us that he was put in a team with too many similar type players and also a really poor balance to the side.  His versatility was his downfall here because we never really saw what his best position was.  He was always more effective out on the left in a lopsided type midfield but I think that was more a result of the limitations of the overall side when he was put central.

That I can remember, his best form in a central midfield role came when he had someone like Hessenthaler holding and protecting for him (and possibly another) to do other stuff.  With the exception of an on-loan Alex Hunt and then a little bit with Curtis Thompson last season, he never really got anyone else doing that role and I always felt he was just asked to do a job in midfield.  Not there to attack, not there to defend, not there to create, not there to destroy, just to be there.  And that's the instruction it appeared that the likes of Gavan Holohan and Kieran Green had last season too.  It was just same-old-same-old.  In the absence of any real threat from midfield last season it almost became the expectation that Clifton would be the more attack minded one, yet it's not his strength really.

Ironically had he been given a run of games in a set position, like Khouri has got, I think we would have seen a different side to his game.  Khouri's got that role, at the minute, as very central one between McEachran and Green.  One holds, one pushes further forward and then Khouri does little bits of both but not with the expectation of doing the majority of both.   For what's it worth and it's something I said last season when there was talk of Clifton going, I think Khouri is the better player and will go onto to have a better career.  

McEachran coming into our midfield has proved to be a game changer.  He's able to do the majority of what Thompson can do but with more mobility, he's also added some real technical ability in there too.  I think it'll be really interesting to see him further forward once Thompson is back.  The development of Green has proved to be a major asset too.   I always wanted Clifton to be the one who drove on from midfield, carrying the ball and going beyond the striker.  But he never looked comfortable enough doing it, probably because there was plenty to occupy him further back on the pitch.  But Green's unpredictability and almost rangy style of running on and off the ball has, for my money anyway, giving us a dynamic that we've lacked for years and years.

Like jase I don't think it'll be Clifton v Khouri.  I think it'll be more Clifton up against McEachran.

I never thought I’d be saying this but Grant McCann will be thinking hard about how to stop us, Hume, Geroge, Khouri & Green are all in good form, you won’t want to give Barrington & JDS too much time on the ball & Rose is a complete pest. Plus more importantly we seem to be playing with confidence & belief.

Clifton played to his best always for us, deserves a great reception ( hopefully has a moderate game though). A really good lad by all accounts as well. Will be tough on Saturday and I am always happy with a strong  competitive performance , mid table is just fine for me after the last few years utm

Quoted from ska face

He played every week for 5 years and nobody bothered with the love letters & hero worship then. This obsession with who can be the biggest lickąrse when old players come back is weird to me.

Most fans that follow clubs around the world be it Grimsby , Barcelona, Real Madrid,AC Milan love a local/youth boy thats turned good (Dani Carvajal,Raul ,Pedri,Maldini).

Quoted from Watch and Shoot

It's an odd one this for me - we seem to remember them as one of our own - my lasting impression which probably sours me against this was Kev D's behaviour when he scored for Coventry (the Tony Rees stamp game) God I hero worshipped him as a schoolboy - bitter taste in my mouth after that - whether home or away with former players.

I agree on that...he went mad which i thought was a bit disrespectful.....overhead kick was decent though and didnt he score a hatrick?
I suppose some people care more than others...if it was me having grown up and played for town i would be absolutely heartbroken.

Harry might even phone in sick you never know.....

I would treat him to a single rendition of "he's one of our own "...would probably rip his heart and disrupt his head....
Abuse or booing which I doubt will happen , but you never know, will spur him on.

Regardless of opinion on his ability the lad Loves his hometown club, was determined enough to achieve a career here and fking cared when he played....I have forgotten more than enough "more talented" players that have passed through the club during his time here who appeared not to give a single sh1t about us..I know which I would prefer to see. Deserves full respect for me.